Some things that I will someday regret about my parenting, in no particular order:
- When my kids asked me to take them swimming, I said no simply because I hadn't shaved my legs recently.
- Yelling.
- Watching my kids play instead of playing with them.
- Staying up for an extra hour of "me" time - meaning I was crabby with the kids all the next day.
- Not closing my screen and looking them in the eye when they were talking to me.
- Not closing my screen the instant they walked in the door from school, no matter how much that email message seemed to call to me.
- Turning my disappointment in myself into anger at them. ("Mom, have you done (whatever) yet?" "NO! Quit nagging me! I can't do everything immediately!")
- Getting angry with a child who was crying over "nothing" when they were really crying over something - just something different than the apparent thing (usually being tired, hungry, or scared).
Now that it is one year later, I thought about adding to the list, but this seems to sum it up pretty well. I feel guilty about my parenting due to my tendency to be: selfish and/or short-tempered. I guess that should sum up guilt in many other venues as well.
